Proteins, polysaccharides, biofilms, and other contaminants may collect on surfaces over time in a process known as surface fouling. The identification of agents that prevent the adsorption of biofouling agents to surfaces is technologically important in contexts such as water purification, membrane separations processes, design of surfaces of biomedical devices and storage of therapeutic proteins. Surface-contaminating agents may be removed from fouled surfaces using a variety of cleaning formulations, typically including detergents, polymers, lipids, enzymes, or mixtures thereof. The identification and optimization of effective cleaning formulations has led to the development of a range of consumer products for home use and commercial products used in the food, drug, paper, and medical industries. Because of ever increasing material costs and growing environmental concerns, there is a continuing need for improved methods for efficiently identifying cleaning formulations for removing contaminating agents from surfaces and for optimizing the concentrations of the active ingredients contained in such formulations. In addition, identification of agents that prevent biofouling is an important goal of many investigators.
Proteins are often unstable when not in their native environments. For example, over time, proteins may unfold or flatten, may become cross-linked, or the primary structure of the proteins may break down. Yet purified proteins, such as those used in protein-based therapeutics and in other pharmaceuticals, often need to be stored for an extended period of time while retaining their original structural integrity and conformation. Stabilizing agents can be used to slow the degradation process; however, such agents have exhibited inconsistent results with different proteins and under different conditions, and maintaining the stability of purified proteins remains a major problem in the pharmaceutical and health care industries. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved methods for efficiently identifying agents for effectively stabilizing proteins and other biomolecules.